


Caucus

by turingtestflunker



Series: Checks and Balances [2]
Category: The West Wing
Genre: Aftercare, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Biting, Boss/Employee Relationship, Dirty Talk, Explicit Consent, Held Down, Implied/Referenced Canon Typical Violence, Light breathplay, M/M, Matt and Josh are bad at communication, Mild Verbal Humiliation, Pining, Power Imbalance, Safer Sex, Scars, Subspace, oblivious!Josh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-26
Updated: 2016-01-26
Packaged: 2018-05-16 09:03:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5822581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/turingtestflunker/pseuds/turingtestflunker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Matt and Josh may have no idea what they're doing, but they're starting to work some things out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Caucus

**Author's Note:**

> Unbetaed, as usual, so forgive the errors I missed. If anyone would be willing to beta for me, I'd be very grateful. Also, the road to porn turns out to be paved with somber meditations on the inherently self-destructive nature of presidential politics. Who knew?

Matt Santos is a charming, articulate, outgoing guy. He’s a career politician and a damn good one. He knows how to talk to people. He knows how to broach difficult subjects. Despite all this, he cannot for the life of him come up with a good way to say ‘Hey, remember that time I barged into your hotel room, slapped you around, and made you suck me off? How’d you like a repeat performance?’

Matt’s been thinking entirely too much about that night in New Hampshire.

If they were anyone else, they could just sit down and talk about it. But they’re not, and as Santos is fast discovering, a candidate is never alone on the campaign trail. He wonders when exactly it stopped being weird having seven people in his hotel room at 5:30 every morning. Somewhere between Manchester and Des Moines, between pretending to care about snowmobiles and pretending to care about farming equipment. Only six weeks in and he’s already tired down to his bones.

He asked Josh, sitting bleary eyed in a diner at some ungodly hour, “I feel like I’m going to drop dead any day now. That’s normal, right?”

Josh nodded sagely, “Yeah, it’s what, January 25th? That sounds about right”

Santos took a sip of what he wishes he could say was the worst coffee he’s ever tasted but the campaign trail has broadened his horizons on that front, “Does it get better? Will I get used to it, or something?”

Josh shook his head, “Nah, in my experience it just gets worse” 

“Until…?” Santos asked, hopefully.

Josh looked at him flatly, “Until what?”

“Oh” Matt’s already had his  _ ‘If I win, this is what the next decade of my life looks like’ _ freak out. Josh had marked it on the calendar: January 14, right on schedule, but it still hits him from time to time.

“Yeah” Josh smiled wryly.

Matt couldn’t help but smile back, “There’s a happy thought”

“Congressman, no one does this because they want to be happy” Josh said.

Matt didn’t have anything to say to that. They finished their coffee in silence. He should have asked Josh about it then, but he couldn’t figure out how to phrase it, how to make it obvious enough that Josh would know what he was talking about, but not so obvious that the rest of the diner would catch on. 

He tries subtlety a few more times after that, in little incidental moments of privacy, but Josh always acts like he doesn’t know what Matt’s talking about. At first, Matt thought it was Josh’s way of letting Matt know that he’s not interested, but then it occurred to him that it’s possible that Josh actually is  _ that  _ oblivious. 

So he goes for broke. One night, walking side by side into their hotel after a particularly soul destroying day, Matt lets a copy of his room key slip out of his coat pocket. He stops Josh with a hand on his shoulder and points it out to him.

“I think you dropped this” he says, looking at Josh as meaningfully as he can. 

Josh blushes furiously and bends down to pick it up.  _ Message received, then. _

Josh looks up at him, still crouching at Matt’s feet, room key in hand and says, “Thank you, Congressman”

_ Goddamnit, Josh!  _ he thinks, and if they’re going to keep doing this, he’s going to need to work on his fake-casual voice, because he knows he must sound ridiculous, “See you later?”

Josh stands and nods vigorously, “Yeah, definitely” he mumbles awkwardly before scurrying off. 

Matt stands there and takes a few deep breaths of the bitterly cold air before going up to his room. The warm air of the hotel lobby burns his cold-numbed hands and face. Nobody bothers him. Everyone from the campaign is exhausted and no one else cares. He goes to his room and strips off his arctic survival gear. He takes a quick shower and makes himself a cup of coffee. Matt wonders when it stopped being weird, getting so tired he needs coffee to work up the energy to sleep. Sleep, God, he wants to sleep. Really sleep, in his own bed, with Helen, for twelve straight hours, without having to worry about a half dozen twenty somethings banging down his door with binders full of reports on fluctuating media availability in the greater Bettendorf area. Matt wants it more than he thought he could want anything, but he has discovered to his dismay that there are things he wants  _ more _ .

He props the door open a hair so he won’t have to get up to let Josh in and sits on the bed, naked, with the covers pulled up to his waist. He makes sure the stuff he put under the pillow last night is still there, it is. Matt drinks his coffee and contemplates the series of bad decisions that have led him here. Each one sort of made sense at the time, but in retrospect? What possible contortion of logic could justify ruining his life by running for President, and then risking the apocalyptic annihilation of that campaign by engaging in an illicit and deviant affair with his campaign manager?

He’s about halfway through his litany of potentially fatal errors and most of the way through his coffee when Josh arrives. Josh opens the door and closes it behind him with painstaking care, as if he’s afraid to make a sound. 

“Hi” Matt says

“Uh, hi” Josh says, walking towards the foot of the bed. His hands are shaking, “How.. er, I mean… what… um” Josh takes a deep breath, “What would you like me to do, Congressman?”

“Do  _ not  _ call me Congressman while we’re doing this,  _ ever _ . Do you understand me?” Matt snaps. The force of his tone surprises him.

“Yes… yes, I understand” Josh says.

“Do you also understand that you don’t have to be here?” Matt asks, because it’s important.

Josh laughs, sharp and almost hysterical, “C-...Matt, if I didn’t want to be here, if I felt… pressured or whatever, there are about fifteen different ways I could’ve destroyed you by now”

Matt snorts, “Well that’s good, I guess”

“So…?” Josh asks.

“I’d like you to undress for me and then I want to fuck you. Is that okay?” Matt watches Josh’s face closely.

Josh is blushing bright red and already unbuttoning his shirt when he says, “Yes… yes that’ll be fine” 

It’s not sexy in the conventional sense, just the efficient removal of clothes. But watching Josh strip down, becoming increasingly vulnerable and increasingly flustered under Matt’s gaze…

Josh leaves his undershirt for last, and hesitates when he gets there. 

“What?” Matt asks immediately, noticing the pained look on Josh’s face.

Josh shakes his head, “Nothing”

He takes it off. Matt knew that Josh had been shot, but somehow he hadn’t expected… The scar from the bullet is relatively small, a raised, discolored circle halfway up Josh’s ribs. The surgical scars are far more noticeable, a series of straight lines on his chest and back. They must have cut him open multiple times. He lets his eyes linger for a moment, then returns to watching Josh’s face

“Rosslyn?” he asks.

“Yeah” Josh says softly, looking down and away, as if he’s ashamed.

Matt shakes his head and chuckles, “Do you honestly think I give a shit? Get over here”

Josh steps tentatively towards the bed. Impatient, Matt snags his wrist and pulls him down roughly. The mattress creaks at the impact. He maneuvers them so they’re laying side by side, his erection pressing against Josh’s hip. It’s good to put hands on him again, so good, but something’s not right.  There’s none of the stillness there was last time. Josh is tense, twitchy against him. 

Matt thinks as fast as he can, running back over all the details, trying to figure out how he fucked up.  _ Maybe _ … He takes a chance, slides his right arm around Josh’s neck in a chokehold, uses one of his legs to lock Josh’s in place.

“It’s okay, Josh. You can’t get away. You can’t stop me. Okay?” he whispers.

Matt tightens his grip on Josh’s throat for a moment to emphasize the point. Josh goes limp.  _ There it is _ . Matt grabs the condom and packet of lube he stashed under the pillow. He tears the packet open with his teeth and awkwardly coats the fingers of his left hand. Clumsy, but the only other option is releasing his grip on Josh’s neck. Not going to happen. Matt’s never done this before, isn’t completely sure how how this is supposed to go, but he knows he likes the way Josh’s ass grips his fingers, the way he moans as Matt opens him up. Long, low and  _ broken _ . 

Reluctantly, Matt lets go of Josh’s neck and uses his right hand to cover Josh’s mouth, “Shh. Can’t let anyone else hear how much you want it”

Josh trembles and sobs into his hand.

“Shh. You’re okay, I’m gonna give it to you soon, alright?” Matt whispers as he fumbles desperately with the condom. “Gonna hold you down and make you take it, I promise” he adds as he finally gets the damn thing on his dick. 

“Ready?” he asks.

Josh nods emphatically. Matt pulls out his fingers, and as slowly as he can stand, slides his cock up Josh’s ass. He can  _ feel  _ the scream that Josh is holding back. The position is awkward, Matt’s right arm is already starting to fall asleep, and there’s too much lube smeared on the sheets and not enough easing the way between them, but it doesn’t matter. Matt wraps his hand around Josh’s cock and in a matter of seconds they’re both rutting like animals. Impulsively, Matt leans over and bites down on Josh’s shoulder. Not hard enough to break the skin, he hopes, but hard enough to  _ hurt _ . Josh cries out and bucks hard against Matt’s grip before spending copiously into Matt’s hand. Matt follows a few moments later, muffling his shout in the crook of Josh’s neck.

They fall apart gasping. Matt stares blankly at the ceiling for a minute before he remembers to go to the bathroom to clean up and get a washcloth for Josh. Helen usually does that part, when they’re together. When he gets back, Josh is still laying on his side where Matt left him. 

Matt sits down beside him on the bed and puts a hand on his shoulder, “Hey there” he remembers the way Josh fell silent in New Hampshire, “Ready to talk yet?”

Josh shakes his head.

“That’s okay. Here, take this and clean yourself up” he hands Josh a washcloth.

Josh does as he’s told and then starts to get up. Matt catches him by the scruff of the neck and pulls him back down.

“Hey, not so fast. Stay with me a minute, okay?” he says. He tells himself that it’s because he doesn’t want his campaign manager wandering the halls mute and glassy eyed, and not because he wants to hold onto Josh for a little while longer.

“Okay” Josh whispers, very softly. 

Matt pulls the covers over them, winces at the wet spot. He’ll have to remember to put a towel down, next time. 

After a while he strokes Josh’s hair and whispers, “Was all that okay?”

Josh takes a long time to answer, “Yeah, more than okay, but…”

“But you like it the other way too? Like we did before?” Matt asks, trying not to sound hopeful.

“Yeah” Josh says.

Matt smiles, “Me too”

They stay like that for a while, probably longer than they can afford, before Josh gets up and starts putting himself back together. He picks his clothes up off the floor and examines the place Matt bit him in the mirror. It’ll bruise, but there’s no blood. 

Josh smiles at him, “Way below the collar, and…” he points out as he buttons his shirt, “Covered by two layers of fabric. Thanks”

Sure enough, the bite is neatly covered by the strap of Josh’s undershirt. Matt will have to remember that spot.

He laughs, “I aim to please”

The ridiculous thing is that Josh actually looks less rumpled and disreputable than he did before Matt had his way with him. Josh picks up his jacket and throws it on in a way that looks like it should be physically impossible.

Propping his head up on one hand, Matt asks “Did you know you put your jacket on exactly like the President?”

Josh looks confused for a moment, “Oh, yeah. We all do, his staff I mean, at least the guys from the ‘98 campaign. Leo picked it up first, and then…” Josh shrugs, “I guess it became a thing”

Matt laughs, “That’s so cute”

Josh scowls at him, “Have you met me? Hi, I’m Josh Lyman, former White House Deputy Chief of Staff and campaign manager for Matthew Santos. Congressmen burst into tears at the sound of my name. I have code word clearance.  Hating me is an unofficial plank of the Republican party platform. I’m in civics textbooks. I am NOT cute”

“Uh huh” Matt says, still chuckling a little.

“Whatever. I’m getting out of here” Josh says in a tone of mock aggrievement and heads for the door.

“Josh?” Matt calls out. It’s stupid, but he can’t help himself.

“Yeah?” Josh looks over his shoulder.

“See you in the morning?” Matt asks.

Josh smiles at him crookedly, “Yeah”

***

The next morning, Santos finds an extra room key in his briefcase. It’s been marked with a little smiley face drawn in red marker.  _ Not cute, my ass _ . Not even four hours of recording robocalls can wipe the stupid grin off his face. 

  
Later that day, Matt Santos calls his wife. 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm going to start work on Reconciliation tomorrow. I'll try to get it out as soon as I can, but unfortunately the answer to the question "what happens when Matt, Helen and Josh try to turn Matt/Helen and Matt/Josh into Matt/Helen/Josh?" is "everything but the kitchen sink". Almost certainly multiple chapters. If you have ideas you'd like me to include, please put them in the comments.


End file.
